Residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of the measure. Rebuilding on the same site is meant to be symbolic for the community still reeling from the mass shooting that killed 20 students and six educators in December, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The new building is scheduled to open in 2016.

Newtown also considered building a new school on a different site and renovating the current structure. Sandy Hook students are currently going to school in a building in a different town.